The Scottish lamb price is rising, contrary to the typical trend at the start of September.

Abattoirs are paying over £5.05/kg for R grading lamb carcases.

The prime ring in the marts looks to have settled around £2.40/kg, putting a 44kg lamb at over £105/head.

The official Agriculture and Horticulture Development Board (AHDB) price for R3L lambs across the UK is £5.27/kg, up 1p.

UA held a sale of 2,686 store lambs at Lochboisdale Mart on the isle of South Uist, which averaged £68/head. They also held a sale at Dalmally of 2,360 sheep, where store lambs averaged £65/head.

Their big sale on Monday at Stirling sold 6,649 lambs, where Texels averaged £82/head, down £1; Cheviot Mules £85, up £8; Mules £77; up £4; Suffolks £83, down £1; Beltex £92, up £7; Cheviots £66, down £3; and Blackfaces £58, up £1.

Breeding sheep sales

Dumfries Mart sold 2,045 Scotch Mule gimmers last week to an average of £171/head, up £3 on the year. They also sold 819 ewe lambs to an average of £126/head, up £11. Overall, the sheep were lighter than usual at the annual sale.

Castle Douglas held its sale of 2,508 Scotch mule gimmers, which averaged £183, up £3 on the year. The 8,172 ewe lambs averaged £132/head, which was up £11 on the year.

There was also a sale of 111 Texel-cross gimmers, which averaged £192/head, up £16 on the year.

Caledonian Mart in Stirling held its breeding Mule sale of over 3,000 sheep last week. The gimmers averaged £191/head, up £49 on the year, and the ewe lambs averaged £123/head, up £20 on the year.

US Stirling sold 3,846 breeding sheep, with accredited Scotch Mule gimmers averaging £228/head, up £64 on the year; non-accredited Scotch Mule gimmers averaged £195, up £21; Suffolk-cross gimmers were £169, up £5; Texel-cross gimmers were £148 and Cheviot gimmers were £144.

Innovis ram sale

The annual sale of Innovis rams at St Boswell’s Mart saw Highlanders average £1,108; Primera average £1,098; Abermax average £917; Aberblack average £963; Aberfiel average £858; and Abertex average £897. The top price on the day was £1,700 for a Highlander tup.

Beef price unchanged

The price paid for R grading steers in Scottish abattoirs remains between £4.10 and £4.20/kg. The AHDB beef price for an R4L steer is at £4.25/kg, up 1p. Same-grade heifers were £4.26/kg, which is up 4p on the week. The young bull price is £4.12/kg deadweight, up 1p/kg. Cows grading O-4L were up 1p to £3.20/kg.

UA Stirling sold 1,055 cattle, with steers averaging £2.31/kg and heifers £2.19/kg. St Boswells fortnightly sale saw steers average £2.27/kg and heifers £2.19/kg.